Trending plastic in Lebanon

Nadine Mortada gets Botox injections in her forehead at Doctor Chadi Murr’s clinic. Nadine Mortada lives in Dubai, and she has combined a vacation trip to Beirut with treatments at the plastic surgery clinic. The plastic surgeons in Lebanon recommend that if you start with Botox injections when you are in your 20s, you will get a better result in the long run. Therefore, Nadine Mortada has started Botox injections at 28 to get rid of the very early signs of aging.  Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.

STILL PICTURE STORY
by Emilie Lærke Henriksen – made in the fall 2019 during her third term at DMJX.

In Lebanon women aim for eternal youth and it is important to look fresh and sexy. Plastic surgery has therefore become a natural part of being a woman. About 1.5 million plastic operations are carried out each year in Lebanon and, as the first place in the Middle East the country has made it possible to raise loans in the bank to finance a plastic operation. Therefore, plastic surgery has become popular for all classes and all ages, both Muslims and Christians. Getting your nose reduced is one of the most frequent surgeries for young woman. Many young people are given plastic surgeries as gifts for their birthdays, bachelor parties or when going to the prom at their college.

In Beirut there are huge advertising columns along the roads with pictures of beautiful women advertising various beauty products. Beirut’s streets are packed with beauty lounges, often several floors. Here you can come before you go to work or school and get makeup done or remove all the hair on your body with a laser. Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.
Hanaa Bouhamdan had nose surgery five days ago. The blood from the bone of her nose ran into her cheeks and eyes, which is normal after a nose operation. The weeks following the operation are usually very painful and Hanaa Bouhamdan must take time off from work and eat a lot of painkillers. Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.
Dr. Chadi Murr draws fat from a patient’s eye. At the same time the patient gets operated a piece of plastic in the chin to emphasise the contours and the size of the nose reduced. The surgery should make the patient look 10 years younger. Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.
Maya Hassan was 19 years old when she had her nose operated. In order to get permission by her mother, Maya Hassan had to tell her that she had breathing problems. Maya Hassan is studying at the American University of Beirut and she has noticed that plastic surgery is seasonal. “After christmas and summer vacations, there are a lot of female students returning to college with patches on their noses. If they got nose surgery during the holidays, the wounds have been giving time to heal”. Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.
Dr. Hussein has just injected fillings in the lips of his patient and is now investigating whether he has put enough fillings in both sides of the lips. Fillings will stay as intended up to six months and then the patient will have to get some new injections. Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.
Dr. Chadi Murr makes 38 years old Nathalie Helous nose smaller. Nose surgeries takes about 1.5 hours and the surgeon goes in and grinds some of the bone off the nose bulge at the top. In the Middle East the noses are typically bigger and more crooked than the western noses, which are flatter and narrower. “It is my first plastic operation. I hope the nose reshaping will give me more confidence.”  Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.
Half of Sylvia Jorge’s face is paralyzed. Therefore, she tries to compensate by getting fillings in her lips so that they equalize each other on both sides. Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.
Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.
Christine Habre gets fillings in her lips, which can be a bit painfull. The difference between botox and fillings is that botox reduces the activity of muscles in the face that cause wrinkles and fillings fill the trouble areas with collagen to add volume and fullness. Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.
Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.
Marie Khoury sits in a beauty salon and waits for her niece who is getting her hair done. “In Canada I didn’t care about how I looked. Then I moved to Lebanon where everyone wants to be beautiful and now I have become addicted to plastic surgery”. Photo: Emilie Lærke Henriksen.